17th–18th century
Saint Akakios the New of Kafsokalyvia
Ascetic of Mount Athos from Golitsa in the Agrafa mountains, who lived a life of strict asceticism at Kafsokalyvia and died in 1730.
Biography
Akakios, born Anastasios, was born around 1630 in Golitsa in the Agrafa mountains and was orphaned of his father at a young age. At 23 he left the world and went to the Monastery of Sourvia near Zagora, Volos, where he was tonsured a monk.
In the 1660s he withdrew to Mount Athos and lived as a hermit in a cave near the Skete of Kafsokalyvia, where, according to tradition, he received visions of Saint Maximos of Kafsokalyvia. He lived in strict asceticism, eating dried grass, and became a spiritual mentor to the new martyrs Romanos, Pachomios and Nikodimos.
He died on 12 April 1730, having, according to tradition, foretold his own death.